Sunday, August 05, 2012

Here We Go Again

Seven people have died in the shooting incident at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wis., Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt tells reporters. One of those was the shooter, he said.

If these were "terrorist" incidents, the country would be freaking out and authorities would be scrambling in a thousand directions at once. But they're not considered terrorism, so everyone will just shrug their shoulders and mouth the usual platitudes -- if they bother to do even that much.

PS: And it's not just the Colorado and Wisconsin incidents. A few days before the Aurora shooting 17 people were shot in an Arkansas bar. And as Gary Younge wrote in The Nation, "On the night after the shooting in Aurora, twenty-two people were shot, three fatally, in Chicago. But when the chaos of the hood intrudes on the security of suburbia, a moment of collective cognitive dissonance occurs." He also included this:

"America leads the world in shocks," noted the late singer Gil Scott-Heron in "We Beg Your Pardon." "Unfortunately, America does not lead the world in deciphering the cause of shock."

4 comments:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/05/1116981/-Sikh-temple-shootings-thoughts-and-prayers-aren-t-enough-any-more I'd add that this sort of thing is not good for tourism, but the shooters are probably xenophobic anyway. (the poll now says 13% want to be able to shoot 70 people in 90 secs.)

"The designation of “domestic terrorism” under the FBI’s rubric — which was not applied to the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting — implies a political agenda. The FBI defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”